


pretty if the sun don't shine

by vervains



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Bickering, Blood and Injury, Donghyuck is an Idiot, Gen, Jaemin is Tired but also Whipped, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nahyuck Fight Zombies, Non-Graphic Violence, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27268996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vervains/pseuds/vervains
Summary: donghyuck takes too much, but he gives back just enough to keep jaemin wanting more.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49





	pretty if the sun don't shine

**Author's Note:**

> honestly, this is a result of a 5 hour impulse writing kick so it probably doesn't make sense but i love zombie apocalypse aus and i also love nahyuck so i figured...why not make them kiss? i hope you enjoy!

Donghyuck takes too much from Jaemin. 

From his tarp and food (and a little of his blood, caked under his fingernails) the first night they met, to the better part of his sanity. To be fair, he didn’t have much of it from the start, but he’s sure he lost it when he tracked Donghyuck back to his camp, not to get his things back, but because he was so bloody glad to meet someone who wasn’t a walking corpse. Donghyuck wasn’t the best sight—crossbow out, teeth bared and in need of a shower, but he was very much alive. And something about Jaemin must have impressed him because he accepted him as package deal with his supplies.

Later, he confessed it was because he was a good tracker. Donghyuck is fierce and bold, but he lacks finesse. Sure, Jaemin had to wait for the apocalypse to put his boy-scout skills to use, but it always makes him smile to remember that that’s what appealed him to Donghyuck. Except now. He guesses the last time he smiled was two days ago, before Donghyuck left. It was the expression on Donghyuck’s face that got him—the twist of his lips when he tried to coax Jaemin to drink his horrible soup. As if he’d never fed anyone before in his life. Jaemin laughed so hard that his wound nearly reopened, almost giving Donghyuck a reason to beat him up. His side aches now, under a dressing he hasn’t had time to change, not if he wants to keep following the trail.

Donghyuck’s trail. After three months, the idiot couldn’t even hide his own tracks, and he thinks he can survive without Jaemin. It makes him want to strangle him, and that’s what keeps him going, even as his canteen gets lighter and lighter. His stops are few and far between, a couple of minutes to check whether he’s bleeding and to dig through a can of fruit. Donghyuck has half a day on him, from when he slept through the pain. He’d left behind Jaemin’s share of the supplies and his weapons, but waking up to Donghyuck’s side of the tent empty stung worse than the spike he’d taken to the gut. It’s easier to focus on the anger instead of the pain, to think of what he’ll do when he finds him. 

Because he will. Even with his wound slowing him down, Jaemin doesn’t miss the twigs Donghyuck had trudged over, the branches he’d broken in his haste, always hurrying. Moving too fast. And if the trail isn’t his…Jaemin doesn’t want to think about that. He has his gun in his belt, his knives strapped to his thighs…even if he isn’t as fast as usual, if he keeps quiet and doesn’t bleed out, the walkers won’t find him. He hears them sometimes, their rattling breaths as they shuffle blindly through the forest. If he so much as steps on a crunchy leaf, he’ll be zombie food. He’s okay with that, as long as it happens after he finds Donghyuck.

He doesn’t know what goes wrong first. Maybe it’s his empty canteen, and the fact that Donghyuck (idiot) didn’t keep to a stream. Maybe it’s because he can’t stomach the fruit or beef jerky, and his system gives up the gun. Either way, he feels the blood wet his shirt before it starts to hurt. He has to tell himself to breathe, find a rock to sit down until the dizziness passes, until he can muster up the courage to peel off his jacket. His bandages are soaked, his fingers coming off red. He doesn’t know if he curses the walkers or Donghyuck, but he uses his last strip of gauze in a clumsy attempt to stem the bleeding, praying that none of the undead picked it up. He chucks the used bandages in the hollow of a tree and keeps moving, one foot in front of the other even as his breathing becomes shallow.

The first zombie finds him barely ten minutes later. God must have a sense of humour because it looks like a fresh one, albeit with one leg bent at an odd angle. Yet, its nose is high in the air, milky eyes somehow settling right on Jaemin. He stills, the snarl it lets out making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He slides a knife free from his thigh and chucks it at the oncoming zombie, catching it dead in the neck. Jaemin doesn’t wait to see it topple to the ground before rushing on as fast as he can, even as his vision becomes hazy and the green of the forest seems to blur with the blue of the sky. In the back of his mind, he knows that more are coming, alerted by his blood and their friend’s call…it’s why he didn’t use his gun, but now he’s well and truly fucked. And Donghyuck…he’s off the trail…Jaemin didn’t even get to tell him—

The second walker approaches from the side, faster than the first and angrier. It spits out some sort of cloth—red flannel that makes Jaemin’s blood freeze in his veins. Muttering a silent prayer, he cocks his gun and shoots. 

Once. 

Twice.

The zombie lurches backward at the impact, but keeps pressing on, rotten teeth baring. Jaemin’s finger squeezes the trigger, hoping there aren’t more of them near, hoping he can go back and find the trail—

He hears a wet squelch. Jaemin’s firing hand falls. He doesn’t realise he has his eyes shut until the walker hits the ground with a thud a mere five paces from him. An arrow protrudes from its back, the same kind that had been in the knee of the one he killed, he realizes. 

“Why in the _fuck_ would you close your eyes?”

Jaemin feels feverish and wonders if his wound is bloody infected because he shouldn’t be smiling right now. But there’s that voice, the ripped flannel shirt, the sound of Donghyuck’s knees hitting the ground next to him. “Did you _want_ to be turned into walker feed? Why didn’t you shoot?”

Logically, Jaemin knows they should be moving (it feels good to say _they_ again), that they should be keeping an eye out for more of the undead, but Donghyuck’s peering at him, eyes bright and jaw locked in a grimace. He looks as if he wants to slap Jaemin. Or…something else. Jaemin sucks in a breath that makes his wound sting even more. “Didn’t want to bring more of them here.”

Donghyuck glances around them, and lowers his crossbow. “They were it. I managed to get that one in the knee before it took off. Probably smelled your ass.”

“Wouldn’t have had to bother if you didn’t take off on me,” Jaemin says, trying to sound bright, but it’s hard to disguise the bitterness in his voice.

Donghyuck runs a hand through a hair. “Listen—,”

“If I was slowing you down, you could have said so. But you should have learned to hide your tracks before bailing.”

Donghyuck swears, noting the blood on Jaemin’s jacket “Let me take a look—,”

“Why bother?” Jaemin pulls away from his touch, the hurt that he’d been ignoring rising up to the surface, mingling with his anger. “You wouldn’t have left if you cared.”

“Will you shut up for one second?” Donghyuck retorts, glaring. It isn’t his tone, but the fear in his eyes that makes Jaemin stop talking. He messes his hair up again, and Jaemin’s certain he’s going to tear chunks out of it at this rate. “You’re really making me say this.”

Despite the ache in his chest, despite wanting to punch Donghyuck and kiss him at the same time, Jaemin raises an eyebrow. “Won’t know it till you say it.”

Donghyuck glowers. “I’m getting there! I didn’t…This sounds so fucking cheesy. I left because I care.”

Jaemin stares.

“When you got injured, it scared me. And the fact that it scared me was terrifying. You got lucky, but what if it was a walker that got you? What if the next time, you died? I thought I’d been on my own enough to not care about it, but I did. I do. And I couldn’t deal with that.”

“So…you left me while I was injured because you don’t want me to die?”

“Of course it’s gonna sound bad when you put it like that,” Donghyuck mutters. “In hindsight, it probably wasn’t my best decision since you nearly got killed but—,”

Jaemin reaches for the crossbow. Donghyuck backtracks.

“The point is, I came back. I realized I couldn’t run away. I was on my way to you when I ran into your friends. That has to be enough for you to not shoot me with my own weapon.” There’s a hint of laughter in his voice. Of relief.

“I’m listening,” Jaemin relents.

It’s Donghyuck’s turn to stare, at a loss for words. “I’m not sure what else you want me to say,” he states plainly. If anything, Jaemin has to admire his honesty. He shakes his head, a small chuckle leaving his lips.

“Yeah, I guess that’s enough,” Jaemin says softly. For a guy who looked as if he would rather bite him than be a two-man team when they first met, it’s a start. Jaemin wishes Donghyuck realized the implications of the terror he’d felt when he thought that zombie had gotten him. He wishes he knows that his steady gaze on him makes him heady in a way that has nothing to do with the fact that he’s bleeding out. Does he have the same impact on him? He supposes he’ll just have to wait for him to get there. If he ever does.

“Good.” Donghyuck heaves a sigh of relief. “Now will you let me look at your wound before you bleed to death?”

“Ever the romantic,” Jaemin murmurs, lips quirking. The words make Donghyuck’s hands still over his shirt buttons, but he recovers in a second. He works fast, digging through his own pack for medical supplies. Within minutes, Jaemin has a fresh set of bandages and a shoulder to lean on while they try and find a good place to camp for the evening. Donghyuck lets him edge closer to him than he needs to, and Jaemin wishes his wound weren’t on his side so he could feel his arm around his waist. 

As if to make up for it, Donghyuck is gentle when he lowers him to the ground at their camping spot, setting their tent up alone while Jaemin sips gratefully on some water, watching the setting sun lighten the brown of Donghyuck’s hair. He pesters him into eating more of the horrible canned peaches before ordering that he gets some rest. The sudden doctor act might have made Jaemin laugh if not for him being a little afraid he’ll run away again. It makes him determined to keep his eyes open, listening to Donghyuck’s movements outside the tent as he keeps watch. Still, the tent is hot to the point of stuffiness and Jaemin’s head feels heavy, his wound throbbing. The last thing he registers is Donghyuck’s pinched face as he checks up on him, and he hopes he wakes up to that same sight.

— 

Donghyuck is there when Jaemin wakes up. He’d worried over it so much that he thinks it’s a lie, seeing him outside munching on breakfast. Jaemin must be staring because he halts in between bites of his jerky, and in true Donghyuck fashion asks, “Is there something on my face?”

That brings Jaemin back to earth. He shakes his head, but takes the food Donghyuck offers, their fingers brushing in the process. If there was any shift in his behaviour the day before, Donghyuck seems like he’s back to normal now. After a brief look at Jaemin’s wound, which thankfully didn’t bleed through the night, he’s back to barking orders at him, packing up camp and checking a map to figure out which town they could hit for a supply run. But Jaemin notices the prolonged glances, the way Donghyuck carries most of their stuff and the water he keeps offering. It makes him hope.

His apocalypse partner looked worse for wear when they first met. He’s not much better now, his clothes faded from use and grimy in spots, and little smudges of dirt dusting his nose and cheeks like freckles. But his skin glows with a healthy tan, and his almost-doe eyes widen in surprise when he catches Jaemin looking at him. He presses his lips together and turns away, but the morning sun reflects off his hair, and Jaemin knows he isn’t just blinded by desire because he’s the only living person for miles around. 

There’s a reason they stumbled on each other that night. Donghyuck takes too much, but he gives back just enough to keep Jaemin wanting more. He can't make any promises for the future, but for now, he can live with that.

fin.

**Author's Note:**

> the version of zombies in this is kinda inspired by the last of us. this type has really good smell and hearing but are pretty much blind lol but yes please do let me know your thoughts in the comments ♥️ get in touch with me below:
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/dawnblushes)   
>  [cc](https://curiouscat.me/vervains)


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